Project Grey Ghost - 1988 Mustang LX Hatchback

[frink84]

Sounds eerily similar to mine, ended up being head gasket failure.

oh damn. how did you discover it was the head gasket after all?

[samuel642000]

oh damn. how did you discover it was the head gasket after all?

Just a guess... Trying to decide what route to go, leaning towards ls swap since I'll want to refresh the 5.0 at this point. Makes more since to go ahead and swap.

[frink84]

Just a guess... Trying to decide what route to go, leaning towards ls swap since I'll want to refresh the 5.0 at this point. Makes more since to go ahead and swap.

hah yeah thats, uh a hell of a sign there. you'll get no hate on a LS swap here, engine swaps are what hot rodding was built on. engine loyalty was built by the oems in the 60's.

[Sbeck09]

Sorry about the bum motor. I'm wondering if I should have LS swapped from my 351w. I've got a boatload of money in that build and the LS has waaaayyyy stronger mains anyway. Screw the brand loyalty. Cheap(ish), reliable, and V8 is all that matters. Plus you'll be saving weight so there is that.

[samuel642000]

hah yeah thats, uh a hell of a sign there. you'll get no hate on a LS swap here, engine swaps are what hot rodding was built on. engine loyalty was built by the oems in the 60's.

Lol yeah, I have zero brand loyalty as long as its the best bang for the buck and I like it, all is fair. I'll probably throw gaskets in it and drive it while I collect parts for the swap.

Sorry about the bum motor. I'm wondering if I should have LS swapped from my 351w. I've got a boatload of money in that build and the LS has waaaayyyy stronger mains anyway. Screw the brand loyalty. Cheap(ish), reliable, and V8 is all that matters. Plus you'll be saving weight so there is that.

Exactly, on the cheapish and reliable side, weight savings will occur if an aluminium block is used, but if going with the iron block, not a lot of savings to be had.

[Rolling_Thunder]

chocolate milkshake of death ---

[frink84]

finally got my haul of parts from my parent's house over the holiday break. the parts consist of a MM Panhard bar, MM standard duty torque arm, MM Clutch Cable/Quadrant/Firewall Adjuster Package, and a pair of Stoptech slotted brake rotors for a SN95 cobra rear brake setup.



I also have a pile of other unused SN95/Fox suspension parts that came in the haul that I'm not using. Selling these gives the Ghost more funding! (PM me if interested: Hawk HPS rear pads for sn95 cobra, MM steering shaft for 94-04, MM torque arm springs with isolators, and a MM SS front hose kit for SN95)

[Project Bike Truck]

finally got my haul of parts from my parent's house over the holiday break. the parts consist of a MM Panhard bar, MM standard duty torque arm, MM Clutch Cable/Quadrant/Firewall Adjuster Package, and a pair of Stoptech slotted brake rotors for a SN95 cobra rear brake setup.



I also have a pile of other unused SN95/Fox suspension parts that came in the haul that I'm not using. Selling these gives the Ghost more funding! (PM me if interested: Hawk HPS rear pads for sn95 cobra, MM steering shaft for 94-04, MM torque arm springs with isolators, and a MM SS front hose kit for SN95)

This puts a big grin on my face! I can not wait for install day.

[WallaceMFG]

Agreed, nice haul! Makes me jealous haha

[frink84]

Started installing the PHB. Got stuck at the axle mount. The Maximum Motorsports provided bolt was too short. It measured at 100mm, the instructions listed 112mm, and the current instructions on the website listed 117mm. I exchanged some emails with Jack Hidley over at Maximum Motorsports, who let me know that the bolt did change in 2010 so my PHB was old. We then checked the axle mount, which was current. All these parts were NIB, so I dunno what went on there. Long story short: MM is awesome and is shipping a new axle mount bolt to me, free of charge.

The OEM and current MM bolt next to eachother. I could technically use the OEM bolt for mock-up, but felt that having the threads in the RCA bushing would be a bad thing, so I'm waiting for the new bolt.


I also verified that there were no updates to the torque arm for me to worry about.

In addition to all that, sold a grip of parts I wasn't going to use, so I bought a Moates Quarterhorse and an Innovate wideband o2 sensor. Gonna get all nerdy on this thing.

[frink84]

Put in a few hours on the Ghost over the weekend.

Got about 80% done with the PHB installation. I must say, MM's instructions and tech support are killer. Multiple responses on a Saturday, unheard of. The longer bolt showed up, then I had to find a 1/2" and 5/8" drill bit to drill holes in the subframe. Then I had to go back to the store to buy a drill with a big enough chuck for the 5/8" drill bit. Fun times and new tools! No pics, but I'm on the home stretch, which requires re-installing the coilovers, settling the suspension, then setting the car back on jack stands at ride height to install the bar level and adjust to get the rear centered.

Because I was waiting on the bolt and other parts showed up, I dove into the Innovate Motorsports 3918 MTX-L Plus Wideband Gauge install. I had installed a trio of VDO gauges (water temp, oil pressure, voltage) below the radio over 10 years ago. I figured I could pop the voltmeter out, install the wideband, hook up power, and go. No dice. Pulled the radio/gauge surround and realized I did **** sloppy 10 years ago. Badly soldered wires with electrical tape instead of heat shrink, sketchy grounds, hard wired... ugh. So I pulled EVERYTHING, including the wiring to the sensors, and built it right, with good wire length, stress relief, crimped and heat shrunk connections, the works! Innovate recomments a relay for gauge power so I did that for all the gauges, and added a weatherpack connector (ordered a $28 crimper kit off Amazon that worked fabulously) for servicability.

Ended up with this:


All gauges worked great and the car idles at flat 13 AFR. Woohoo.

Also been playing around with TunerPro RT in preparation for the Moates Quarterhorse installation. I'm using the A9L2 from http://www.efidynotuning.com/ as a base and I think I have a handle on it. Curious how my first startup will go with that.

[frink84]

guess it didnt like my image

[Z06killinSBF]

Step bit next time, they work amazing.

[frink84]

Step bit next time, they work amazing.

I've used step bits before, however when drilling the pilot holes I found that the frame was double-thick in a few spots. Didn't want to make huge holes. I needed a powerful corded drill anyways (at least thats what I told the wife...)

[LERM]

Pretty jealous of that MM stuff your car is getting. When are we racing these things?

[Project Bike Truck]

Pretty jealous of that MM stuff your car is getting. When are we racing these things?

When we can convince our better half's to move to Texas!

[frink84]

Pretty jealous of that MM stuff your car is getting. When are we racing these things?

When we can convince our better half's to move to Texas!

what Danny said hahaha.


Anyways, got some time in last night. After a lot of debate and measuring, I'm just converting the existing MAC exhaust to dumps. I really like the sound from that system, its well past being paid for (bought over 10 years ago...) and I'd likely spend more on building a new exhaust vs using what I have. So I pulled out the Flowmaster 40's and spent some time with the cutoff wheel to create the following:



Got it under the car and the turn downs hit the axle. Strange. Pulled those off and got the mufflers into place. Looks like the MAC stuff puts the mufflers way far back in the muffler pocket. The double-edged sword of the MAC system is that its multi-piece with a bunch of ball and socket connectors for maximum adjustability. But that hurts fitment. You can see that there is a good 6-8" of room in front of the muffler to move it up. Also, the driver side muffler's tailpipe started turning up RIGHT at the weld so it looks a little weird at the moment.





Once the car is back on the ground and I finalize the PHB, I'll start on the torque arm. Then with all that done (hoping that the exhaust doesn't cause any issues with that installation), I will take it to an exhaust shop. I'm thinking delete the ball & socket ahead of the mufflers, move the mufflers towards the front of the car and get them tucked up nice and tight, and put turn-down tips on them.

I started the car as-is with the shop closed, and it was louder than before (but then again I've never started the car with the doors closed before) but it is MUCH more liveable than the Flowmasters.

[frink84]

I finalized the PHB install last night. The bar was level by default and the axle measures out to within 1/16" centered to the chassis. thats an important metric for the coming torque arm install, so I was happy that I didn't have to tweak anything. THeres something to be said for a car that you know the entire history of!



I drove it around the block to settle the suspension before installing the PHB (per instructions), and got to watch the wideband reacting to how the car was running. While it was stumbling at >3000rpm, the AFR is sitting in the 14.5-15 range. Then the car basically catches itself, AFR drops in the 11.5-12 range, and it takes off. Repeat. I don't exactly know what it means, but to me that means fueling issue. I'm going to resistance-test the injectors when I get some time, and order the 255lph pump to install while I have the car back in the air for the torque arm. For data's sake, idle is around 13, while cruise is 14 or so.

[frink84]

New fuel pump showed up early, so I got all kinds of excited and dropped the tank

Installed the new pump into the hanger but the strainer wouldn't stay on.

I contacted customer service after going crazy with the calipers

Turns out its missing the little metal doohickey, should look like this


Now I'm working with Carter technical support to get a new one sent out. Seems to be my luck of the draw with this thing...

[frink84]

So I got the new fuel pump installed. After a LOT of back and forth, Carter's product manager of fuel systems sent me a new strainer.

Old pump and debris that came out of the pump/strainer


Collection of strainers, old on top, good one on the bottom


The new pump is shockingly quieter than the old one. Like, had to listen for it priming, and even checked the fuel pressure at the rail to ensure it was running. The car started on the first try.

I drove it around a bit and it.... still acts funny. I videod the AFR while going through the gears. It basically leans through first then figured itself out and adds fuel for the rest of the gears. This is only when getting on it, otherwise it always leans out.
https://youtu.be/m5OnYB6h2Gw
https://youtu.be/0VhjUZKpgcU

I think at this point its time to pay attention to the engine side of the fuel system, aka testing the injectors and paying attention to the regulator bleed down after shut-down.